The document discusses several major environmental laws in India including the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act 1974, Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act 1981, Environment (Protection) Act 1986, Forest Conservation Act 1980, and Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. It provides details on the objectives and key aspects of these acts related to preventing pollution, protecting forests and wildlife, and improving the environment. Implementation and enforcement of environmental legislation faces issues around the precautionary principle, polluter-pays principle, and freedom of information.

1. Environmental Laws
Dr. Geetanjali Kaushik
AIES

2. ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
• Following is a list of major Environmental Acts and Rules
applicable in India.
• The Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act 1974 (as
amended upto 1998).
• The Water (Prevention &control of Pollution) cess Act, 1977 (as
amended by Amendment Act 1991).
• The Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act 1981 as
amended by Amendment Act 1986
• Environment (Protection) Act 1986.
• Hazardous Waste (Management & Handling) Rules 1989.
• The Public Liability Insurance Act 1991.
• Environment Protection Amendment Rule 1983.
• Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals
(Amendment) Rules 1984.
• The Factories Act 1984.
• The Forest Conservation Act 1980.
• The Notification on Environment Impact Assessment 1994.

3. • The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 not only has
important constitutional implications but also an
international background. The spirit of the
proclamation adopted by the United Nations
Conference on Human Environment, held in
Stockholm in June 1972, was implemented by the
Government of India by creating this Act.
• Although there were several existing laws that dealt
directly or indirectly with environmental issues it was
necessary to have a general legislation for
environmental protection because the existing laws
focused on very specific types of pollution, or specific
categories of hazardous substances, or were indirectly
related to the environment through laws that control
land use, protect our national parks and sanctuaries
and our wildlife.

4. • However, there was no overarching legislation and
certain areas of environmental hazards were not
covered. There were also gaps in areas that were
potential environmental hazards and there were
essentially related to the multiplicity of regulatory
agencies.
• Thus, there was a need for an authority to study,
plan and implement the long-term requirements of
environmental safety, and direct and coordinate a
system of appropriate response to emergencies
threatening the environment,

5. • This Act was thus passed to protect the
environment, as there was a growing concern
over the deteriorating state of the environment.
• As impacts grew considerably environmental
protection became a national priority in the
1970s.
• While the wider general legislation to protect
our environment is now in place, it has become
increasingly evident that our environmental
situation continues to deteriorate.
• We need to implement this Act much more
aggressively if our environment is to be
protected.

6. Environmental Protection Act
1986
This is an act providing protection and improvement
of the environment.
Highlights
• Central Govt powers to take necessary measures
for protecting and improving the quality of env and
prevention, control and abatement of environmental
pollution
• The powers of Central Govt include
• Lay down stds for the quality of env, emissions / discharges of
env pollutants from various sources

7. • Restrict or prohibit industries, operations/ processes in
specified areas
• Restrict or prohibit handling of hazardous substances in
specified areas
• Lay down procedures and safeguards for the prevention
of accidents, which may cause env pollution
• Enter and inspect any industrial establishments, records,
registers and documents to ensure effective
implementation of the provisions of the Act.

8. • Central Govt has powers to issue directions for
either closure and prohibition or regulation of an
industry, operations/ processes
• It can also stop/regulate the supply of electricity,
water or any other service in the prescribed
manner
• It has the power to recover expenses incurred by it
on remedial measures to prevent pollution from
defaulting industry
• It also has the power to take samples of air, water.
Soil or any other substance from any industrial
plant for analysis

9. • The industry has to comply with directions in case
of restriction on discharge/ emission of pollutants in
excess of prescribed limits
• Handling of hazardous substances in accordance
with prescribed procedures.
• Industry has to furnish information to specified
agencies in case of discharges, emission of
pollutants in excess of prescribed standards
already occurred or likely to occur resulting in env
pollution due to accident or any unforeseen event.
• There is bar on filing of any legal suit or
proceedings against the govt or officials
empowered by it for action taken in pursuance of
the act.
• Industry operations/ processes requiring consent
under the Water/ Air act/ Hazardous Waste rules or
all to submit Env Statement every year before 30th
Sept for last financial year.

10. AIR (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1981
• This is an Act for prevention, control and
abatement of air pollution. It is also a
comprehensive legislation with more than fifty
sections.
Highlights
• It makes provisions for Central and State
Boards, power to declare pollution control areas,
restrictions on certain industrial units, authority
of the Boards to limit emission of air pollutants,
power of entry, inspection, taking samples and
analysis, penalties, offences by companies and
Government and cognizance of offences etc.

11. • The Act specifically empowers State
Government to designate air pollution areas
and to prescribe the type of fuel to be used in
these designated areas.
• According to this Act, no person can operate
certain types of industries including the
asbestos, cement, fertilizer and petroleum
industries without consent of the State Board.
The Board can predicate its consent upon the
fulfillment of certain conditions.

12. The main objectives of the Act are as follows:
(a) To provide for the prevention, control and
abatement of air pollution.
(b) To provide for the establishment of central and
State Boards with a view to implement the Act.
(C) To confer on the Boards the powers to
implement the provisions of the Act and
assign to the Boards functions relating to pollution

13. THE WATER (PREVENTION &
CONTROL OF POLLUTION) ACT:
• The Act provides for constitution of central and State Boards for
preventing water pollution, power to take water samples and
their analysis
• It allows for appeals, revision, minimum and maximum
penalties, publication of names of offenders, offences by
companies and Government departments, cognizance of
offences, water laboratories, analysis etc.
• Prevention and control of water pollution is achieved through a
permit or ‘consent administration’ procedure.
• Discharge of effluents is permitted by obtaining the consent of
the State Water Board, subject to any conditions specified by
them.
• Any person who fails to comply with a directive of the State
cannot, however, entertain in suit under this Act unless the suit
is brought by, or with the sanction of the State Board.

14. FOREST CONSERVATION ACT
• The Indian Forest Act of 1927 consolidated all the
previous laws regarding forests that were passed
before the 1920s.
• The Act gave the Government and Forest Department
the power to create Reserved Forests, and the right to
use Reserved Forests for Government use alone.
• It also created Protected Forests, in which the use of
resources by local people was controlled.
• Some forests were to be controlled by the village
community, and these were called village Forests.

15. • The Act remained in force till the 1980s when it
was realized that protecting forests for timber
production alone was not acceptable. The
other values of services that forests provide
and its valuable assets such as biodiversity
began to overshadow the importance of
their revenue earnings from timber.
• Between 1952 and 1988, extent of
deforestation was so great that it was
essential to formulate a new policy on
forests and their utilization. The earlier
forest policies had focused only on revenue
generation.

16. • The new policy framework made conversion of forests
into other uses much less possible.
• Conservation of the forests as a natural heritage finds
a place in the new policy, which includes the
preservation of its biological diversity and genetic
resources.
• It also values meeting the needs of local people for
food, fuel wood, fodder and Non Timber Forest
Produce or NTFPs. It gives priority to maintaining
environmental stability and ecological balances.
• It expressly states that the network of Protected Areas
should be strengthened and extended.

17. • The Act made it possible to retain a greater
control over the frightening level of
deforestation in the country and specified
penalties for offenders.

18. WILD LIFE (PROTECTION) ACT, 1972,
amended in 1983, 1986 and 1991:
The major activities and provisions in the act can be summed up as follows:
1. It defines the wildlife related terminology.
2. It provides for the appointment of wildlife advisory board, wildlife warden,
their powers, duties etc
3. Under the Act, comprehensive listing of endangered wildlife species was
done for the first time and prohibition of hunting of the endangered species
was mentioned
4. Protection to some endangered plants like Beddome cycad, Blue Vanda,
Ladies Sliper Orchid, Pitcher plant etc. is also provided under the Act.
5. The act provides for setting up of National Parks, Wild life Sanctuaries
etc.
6. The Act provides for the constitution of Central Zoo Authority.
7. There is provision for trade and commerce in some wildlife species with
license for sale, possession, transfer etc.
8. The Act imposes a ban on the trade or commerce in scheduled animals.
9. It provides for legal powers to officers and punishment of offenders.
10. It provides for captive breeding programme for endangered species.

19. ISSUES INVOLVED IN THE ENFORCEMENT
OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION
• There is little point in passing laws or making
international agreements if there cannot be adequate
enforcement.
3 issues/things that are especially important for
environmental legislation are:
1. The precautionary principle This principle has
evolved to deal with risks and uncertainties faced by
environmental management. The principle implies that
an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure— it
does not prevent problems but may reduce their
occurrence and helps ensure contingency plans are
made.

20. 2. The polluter-pays principle In addition to-the
obvious—the polluter pays for the damaged caused by a
development—this principle also implies that a polluter
pays for monitoring and policing.
• A problem with this approach is that fines may bankrupt
small businesses, yet be low enough for a large
company to write them off as an occasional overhead,
which does little for pollution control.
• There is, thus, debate as to whether the principle should
be retrospective. If the polluter pays, how long back does
liability stretch?

21. 3. Freedom of information: Environmental planning
and management is hindered if the public, NGOs or
even official bodies are unable to get information.
Many countries have now begun to release more
information
• But still many governors and multinational
corporations fear that industrial secrets will leak to
competitors if there is too much disclosure, and there
are situations where authorities declare strategic’
needs and suspend disclosure.

22. ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
IN ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN
HEALTH
• The understanding of environmental concerns and issues
related to human health has exploded during the last few years
due to the sudden growth of information technology.
• The advancement in computer, communication, satellite and
other technological developments have enabled engineers or
environmentalists to gather relevant information simultaneously
from many sources.
• The information is utilized for developing and early warning
system and to forecast any eventuality much earlier. A large
amount of information is easily available through Remote
Sensing technology, Geographical Information System
(GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) that is being
used for various environmental studies.

23. • Ministry of Environment, Government of India
has established a Environmental Information
System (ENVIS) in 1982.
• This has been established as a decentralized
information system network whose purpose is
collection, storage, retrieval and
dissemination of environmental
information to decision makers, policy
makers, planners, scientists, engineers,
environmentalists, researchers and
general public all over the country

24. • The ENVIS network has its focal point in the
Environmental ministry along with 13 subject
oriented centers, known as ENVIS Centers,
set up in the various institutions,
organizations of the country in the priority
areas of environment
• like pollution control, toxic chemicals, energy
and environment, environmentally sound
and mangroves, corals and lagoons, media
and environment etc.

25. • New communication links are particularly vital to
make use of such information sources as
Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a computer
based system for gathering, manipulating, and
analyzing environmental data.
• Remote Sensing – is the art of gathering
information about an object without touching it.
It is useful in soil, agriculture, town and country
planning, detection of forest cover depletion and
forest mapping etc.

26. Acid rain
• When fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are
burned, chemicals like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides
are produced.
• These chemicals react with water and other chemicals in
the air to form sulfuric acid, nitric acid and other harmful
pollutants like sulfates and nitrates. These acid pollutants
spread upwards into the atmosphere, and are carried by
air currents, to finally return to the ground in the form of
acid rain, fog or snow. Damage from acid rain is
widespread in North America, Europe, Japan, China and
Southeast Asia.
• The corrosive nature of acid rain causes many forms of
environmental damage.

27. 1. Acid rain dissolves and washes away nutrients in the
soil which are needed by plants. It can also dissolve
naturally occurring toxic substances like aluminium and
mercury, freeing them to pollute water or poison plants.
2. It affects trees more directly by creating holes in the
waxy coating of leaves, causing brown dead spots which
affect the plant’s photosynthesis. Such trees are also more
vulnerable to insect infestations, drought and cold.
3.Acid rain that falls or flows as ground water to reach
rivers, lakes and wetlands, causes the water in them to
become acidic. This affects plant and animal life in aquatic
ecosystems.
4. Acid rain also has far reaching effects on wildlife. By
adversely affecting one species, the entire food chain is
disrupted, ultimately endangering the entire ecosystem.

28. 5. Acid rain and dry acid deposition damages
buildings, automobiles, and other structures
made of stone or metal. The acid corrodes
the materials causing extensive damage and
ruins historic buildings. For instance the
Parthenon in Greece and the Taj Mahal in
India have been affected by acid rain.